Backlash
Backlash was a lightweight robot built by Team Nightmare for Season 1.0 of BattleBots. It was designed to be a smaller version of their heavyweight competitor, Nightmare, and had the same weapon system-a spinning flywheel with two metal bludgeons. Backlash competed in all 5 seasons of BattleBots and did well, winning the Season 1.0 championship and reaching the final of Season 2.0. The original Backlash was boxy and primitive compared to later editions, which eventually gained invertability for Season 5.0 as being flipped was a major problem for earlier editions. After BattleBots ended Backlash competed for a short time but now is retired. Robot History Season 1.0 After a promising performance at Botbash 2000, Backlash was one of the lightweights to look out for in Season 1.0 of BattleBots. Its first opponent at BattleBots was Disposable Hero. Disposable Hero wasn't 100 percent complete for the battle, but the team decided to fight anyway. The match began with Disposable Hero backing away from the rapidly approaching Backlash. It managed to dodge Backlash's disc twice before being hit squarely in front, sending it flying. It continued moving, with its battery barely connected, and Backlash hit it again in the side, sending its motor flying across the arena. Backlash lined up another shot with the blade, this time ripping off the front forks. Backlash drove around the back of the beaten robot, and hit it once more, ripping out Disposable Hero's electronics. Disposable Hero was counted out as Backlash did a victory spin, moving it to the next round against The Crusher. The fight started with Crusher zipping across the arena while Backlash advanced, disc spinning. Crusher missed Backlash at first and hit the arena wall. For several more seconds, Crusher zipped around Backlash, trying to score a hit. After a couple more misses, and Crusher hitting the wall again, Backlash finally moved in towards the side of Crusher, hitting it squarely on the side and knocking Crusher upside-down. However, the force caused was significantly less than it should've been, meaning there was a problem with Backlash's weapon motor. Crusher, upside-down, ran into the wall again, but this time, its inverted wedge pushed The Crusher up onto the arena wall spikes, lifting his drive wheels off the ground. Backlash then tried to move in strike The Crusher again, but hit the wall instead. Later, it was discovered that this impact had sheared the shaft that the disc spins on, but the shaft stayed in place. Backlash moved aside to see if Crusher could free himself from the wall, but it couldn't, so Backlash pushed The Crusher off the wall. The Crusher drove into the killsaws, which sent it flying through the air, landing upside-down again. A couple more hits from Backlash's disc, and Crusher drove back up the wall. Backlash then waited before hitting the back edge of Crusher, bending up the angle metal on the back. Backlash was then able to position The Crusher against the wall in such a way that it could not move and was counted out. Backlash backed away to perform a victory spin, winning by KO in 1 minute 43 seconds. Backlash moved onto the quarterfinals against Endotherm. Jim Smentowski replaced the broken shaft and put on a new weapon belt after charging up the batteries. However, there was still a problem with Backlash's disc, as it was hardly doing any damage and stopped after every impact. So, after a few hits and misses against Endotherm, Jim changed tactics and used Backlash to try to push Endotherm into the hazards. This worked, as Backlash managed to push Endotherm into the killsaws but taking a shot itself, causing Backlash to fly across the arena, landed back on its wheels, continuing the fight. After a little bit more pushing and shoving, both robots ended up in the corner by the pulverizer. Backlash pinned Endotherm underneath the pulverizer to score points and left Endotherm under it for a while. This match went on for the full 3 minutes, both robots still running at the end after pushing each other around the whole time, the judges awarded the match to Backlash on points gained. The next fight for Backlash in the semifinals was against Das Bot. Jim was able to repair the weapon system, as the problem was the belt slipping on the disc. The round started and Backlash advanced on Das Bot, who had added a couple of blue foam pads, in an effort to cushion the blows from Backlash's weapon. This didn't work however, as Backlash ripped both of them off in the opening seconds. Backlash managed to get around the back of Das Bot, catching the squared end and upended it, nearly flipping it over, but Das Bot's arm managed to push it back onto its wheels. Das Bot came around for a frontal attack on Backlash, but Backlash's disc smashed Das Bot's flipper arm, breaking the steel tubing and leaving the arm pointed uselessly skyward. One more hit on the side knocked Das Bot out, as it turned off the power switch. Backlash hit Das Bot a couple more times, then finally pushing it into the killsaws, ripping apart the plywood underside. Backlash had made it to the final alongside Alpha Raptor. The fight started and it was plain to see that Alpha Raptor was having drive problems. as it could barely move around its side of the arena, but successfully evaded Backlash's attacks for several moments, even positioning itself on the other side of the killsaws, trying to get Backlash to follow, but got hit by them in the process. Backlash patiently drove around the saws to get at Alpha Raptor, and managed to make contact with the side, this impact sent Alpha Raptor into the side of the arena, by the spikes. Backlash came in for the kill, smashing into the back, plastic side of Alpha Raptor, sending pieces of white plastic PVC all over the arena. Backlash moved away to see if Alpha Raptor could move, but didn't. Backlash came in for the kill again, this time smashing into the back of Alpha Raptor so hard that the electronics were destroyed, sending the battery packs flying. Backlash came around to try to get Alpha Raptor away from the wall, and managed to hit him from the side hard enough to send him flying a short distance. At this point, it was obvious that Alpha Raptor was out, and Backlash had won the fight, and along with that, the championship. Merchandise Any appearances by Backlash in merchandise are listed below:Backlash/Battle Basher *Backlash/Battle Basher *Backlash/Metal Mechanics *Backlash/BattleBots: Beyond The BattleBox Category:Lightweight Robots Category:Lightweight Champions Category:BattleBots Competitors Category:Honorable Mentions in the Combat Robot Hall Of Fame Category:Lightweight Runner-Ups Category:Lightweight Quarterfinalists Category:Robots armed with spinning weapons Category:Robots profiled in The Official Guide Category:Robots that fought on television